Awake for a few hours in the middle of night ............

[Now we're 3]

Some ideas please ............

For the past number of nights my little man has been waking in the middle of the night and not going back to sleep for a few hours - between 1.5 to 3 hours - just simply won't go back to sleep. He is waking crying which stops as soon as I take him out of the cot but won't resettle. If I put him back in the cot he stands up holding on the side crying (wont lie back down) but I am having no joy resettling him in my arms either. He will lie in my arms but his eyes are wide open looking round and then he sits up and claps his hands, chats, sings, hits me. I've tried putting him in the bed beside me but thats not working either.

He has been sick (nasty cough) recently and is on antibiotics for it but this waking and staying awake doesn't appear to be caused by coughing as this is rapidly improving now he is on the antibiotics. FWIW I have humidifier on in his room for his cough and had offered him water when he wouldn't settle quickly which he is devouring so could this be a sign of something?

Don't think it is teeth as there are no other signs and he is not grizzly when up just doesn't want to go back to sleep.

Any suggestions/ideas on what might be happening and how to turn him back into being able to go back to sleep would be great.

Cheers

[ss_storm]

DD does this sometimes too, it's frustrating isn't it! I don't know how she can be so happy and unconcerned about sleeping in the middle of the night! What does he do when you put him in bed with you? Will he at least lie there so you can close your eyes, even if you aren't asleep it's better than being wide awake with him..lol.

[Now we're 3]

emmm depends on your definition of lie ......... he wriggles, kicks, hits, turns, sits up, talks, laughs claps hands ....... so if that is lying then yes. LOL

At least I can lie down and i do close my eyes but am so tired as we've had five nights in a row now! Hope it not going to develop into a habit!

[sloane]

i have no idea what the solution is, sorry but we get the same thing here sometimes too. they're so happy & chirpy & you're there, barely able to keep your eyes open i'm guessing (hoping!) it's just another phase & try & minimise any fun (you know, no lights on, no talking to him etc) - trying to bore him back to sleep!!

[Panda74]

We went through similar but not 5 nights in a row! What a nightmare time that was, went on for several weeks. Could it be his ears - ear aches or fluid in the ear? DS1 has had ear problems that didnt seem to upset him too much when he was awake but disturbed his sleep. Good luck tonight xo

[turtleschell]

My friend used to use a humidifier and said that she started waking up in the middle of the night with an insanely dry mouth.. caused by the humidifier.
Perhaps he is waking because of a really dry mouth?

DD has little phases of these night wakings, all cheerful and laughing. I don't know why. I think it's just a baby thing?
It's so annoying hey, I feel for you! Hope it stops soon.

[Tuesday's Child]

DD has done this since she was about 5 months old. And it is almost every night. She'll wake about 9:30-10pm and not go back to bed until 1am. Not fun when I have to get up at 5:30am. I wish she would just lie down next to me, even if she was to chat or clap her hands. But no, she has to sit up, stand up (leaning on me) and crawl around the bed and over me even if it means she's going to go headfirst off the bed. She cries if I put her in her cot.

I'd like to be able to have a room with just a mattress on the floor so that I could lie down and not worry about her hurting herself if I fall asleep, but we just don't have the space (DH is a horder and we have too much crap). I'm hoping that it will settle down when she's able to walk on her own. She did settle down briefly once she learnt to crawl, but she went from crawling to standing very quickly. But it is exhausting in the meantime.